San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Deebo Samuel Darren Yamashita-USA TODAY Sports

49ers' players exposed 'lucky' Eagles before Super Bowl

By Ethan Scott | Last updated 2/13/23

Leading up to Super Bowl LVII, several 49ers picked the Kansas City Chiefs to beat the Philadelphia Eagles. On top of that, San Francisco players called Philadelphia's defense overrated and said the Chiefs, with QB Patrick Mahomes and head coach Andy Reid, would expose them.

That's what they believed the 49ers would have done had rookie QB Brock Purdy not gotten hurt in the first quarter of the NFC Championship Game.

On Sunday, the Chiefs proved the 49ers right, outscoring the Eagles 24-11 in the second half and winning, 38-35.

Here is what star wide receiver Deebo Samuel said on the "I AM ATHLETE" podcast to LeSean McCoy, a former Philadelphia running back:

#49ers WR Deebo Samuel says that #Eagles CB James Bradberry is trash.pic.twitter.com/2RWrHwhBj6
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) February 12, 2023

Niners wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk shared a similar sentiment

#49ers WR Brandon Aiyuk believes that the #Eagles defense will “get exposed” by the #Chiefs in the Super Bowl.

He claims that Philadelphia “Got extremely lucky” that the Niners couldn't expose them due to some "unfortunate circumstances." (@Graham_SFN) pic.twitter.com/YU6BPp3Cml
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) February 5, 2023

Before the game, even 49ers kicker Robbie Gould threw a little shade at the Eagles and QB Jalen Hurts, who had a stellar Super Bowl.

“If you make Jalen Hurts play quarterback, you're probably gonna have a pretty solid day on defense.”

-#49ers kickers Robbie Gould on which team has the edge in the Super Bowl pic.twitter.com/aDgYkOg5al
— MLFootball (@_MLFootball) February 9, 2023

In the second half, Mahomes and Reid — Kansas City's play caller — cooked one of the best defenses in the NFL. On two of Kansas City's touchdowns (Kadarius Toney and Skyy Moore), the Eagles didn't have a defender within 10 feet.

In the regular season, Philadelphia totaled 70 sacks -- three sacks from breaking the 1985 Bears record. However, the Eagles didn't sack Mahomes once.

Without that defensive line pressure, the Eagles secondary got exposed, begging the question:

If Purdy had not gotten knocked from the NFC title game, would the Niners have beaten the Eagles and Chiefs?

More must-reads: